Jon Jones beat Daniel Cormier in Anaheim in July but has failed a drug test

The initial A sample and the follow-up B sample showed traces of anabolic steroid Turinabol and he now faces a four-year ban due to repeat offending.

And Cormier, who has reluctantly been handed the 205lb title back after the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) changed the result, said: “I talked to the CSAC and was like, ‘I lost. I lost the fight’.

“As a competitor, that’s how I felt. Dana White called me today and said, ‘If it’s a no-contest, then the fight didn’t happen’. Now, people will say stuff like, ‘You got handed the belt.’

“He cheated. The reality is, for me to say, ‘I don’t want this title,’ when I was going to be [fighting] in a championship anyway,

“Financially it’s just a big difference if I don’t fight as the champion as opposed to fighting for a vacant title.

“He has to fight this. This is a death sentence. If this does what it says it can be, it’s a death sentence.”